Shapiro

[Blinkers On]

Is an apparent nut job. Keyed Jamgotian's (sp) Bentley at HP with surveillance camera's recording every move.
This is the guy who drove Cal racing into the ground. A guy who acts like a 15 year old. My question is how many houses has he toilet papered?

[Barnfairy]

My question is how many houses has he toilet papered?Sounds like flaming turd is more his style than TP.

Yikes.

[Acertainsmile]

Your kidding right? :eek:

We know you have connections out there, we must see that video!

[Blinkers On]

I wish I was kidding oh Smiley One.
I doubt hightly that the video is available for our veiwing pleasure (and it would be!), but I do believe it is considered evidence as charges have been pressed, etc.
What a dummy Shapiro is and this is the man who was the driving force in the mandate to synthetics. An adult who hasn't the maturity of a child his son't age.
Who does that stuff??!!

[Glimmerglass]

LA Times July 2, 2009 (http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-newswire3-2009jul03,0,3024952.story)

Richard Shapiro, the former head of the California Horse Racing Board, was charged with one felony count of vandalism for allegedly damaging a vehicle owned by a longtime rival, the Los Angeles County district attorney said.

Shapiro was charged with a felony because the financial damage done to horse racing advocate Jerry Jamgotchian's 2008 Jaguar was in excess of $6,700, district attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons told The Times. Shapiro was not immediately available for comment and Jamgotchian declined to comment.

I'm sure he'll claim he temporarily went off the "deep end" following the losses with Madoff. He claims to have lost most of his money with Bernie (http://www.scribd.com/doc/13146799/Letter-to-The-Court-From-Madoff-Victim-Richard-Shapiro)

[Las Olas]

"When you consider sentencing Madoff, please consider that many of us will live within our own jails..." :lol:

[Glimmerglass]

July 16, 2009 "Shapiro to Enter Plea in Car Vandalism Case" (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/51686/shapiro-to-enter-plea-in-car-vandalism-case?id=51686&source=rss)

Shapiro, 56, is scheduled to appear July 28th in Department 5 at the Inglewood Courthouse, according to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

If convicted, Shapiro, who resigned his CHRB chairmanship in December after four years, could face a maximum penalty of one year in state prison and a fine of $10,000, or both.

Jamgotchian has also filed a formal complaint with the CHRB in Sacramento seeking to have Shapiro's racing license revoked.

[Blinkers On]

Oh my word. Max penalty is right, what is the minimum??

[DickHertz]

Oh my word. Max penalty is right, what is the minimum??

He'll get fined and community service, no jail time.

[Glimmerglass]

He'll get fined and community service, no jail time.

Agreed and maybe he can give Cali a stash of IOU's back to satisfy the fine ;)

[Blinkers On]

LOL no matter the punnishment, it sounds like it's going to be interesting for his ego.

[DickHertz]

On a semi-related note, Bernie Madoff is making .41 cents an hour cleaning toilets.

[Glimmerglass]

And the "I'm sorry about that other thing I did too" now comes out while he tosses Bob Baffert under the Firestone tires in the process .... :

Union Tribune 7-22-09 "Ex-CHRB boss having second thoughts" (http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jul/22/ex-chrb-boss-having-second-thoughts/?sports/horseracing&zIndex=136037)

Richard Shapiro, head of the California Horse Racing Board when the mandate for synthetic racing surfaces at the state's major tracks passed three years ago, is among the ranks of the disillusioned with what the rule has wrought.

“In 20-20 hindsight, I would not have pushed for a mandate,” Shapiro, now retired, said in a phone interview yesterday. “You ask me if I'm disappointed and, in a word, the answer is yes.”

The genesis of Shapiro's involvement in the movement to synthetics was a discussion with trainer Bob Baffert at “Clocker's Corner,” the morning gathering place for horsemen, at Santa Anita a few years ago.

Baffert, Shapiro said, spoke of safety concerns with Santa Anita specifically and California tracks in general. He spoke to how, because of the reputation California tracks had as being dangerously hard and fast, top Eastern trainers were strongly opposed to shipping marquee horses west for major races, or sending strings of lower-level ones for everyday competition.

“That was really the call to arms for me,” Shapiro said. “I felt I had to do something.”

[MintHillFarm]

for every 15 yr old that has a grief...

[Pronzini]

So he cost the tracks millions and upended the sport in California based on what was probably a casual conversation with Bob Baffert at Clocker's Corner.

What a cluck.

[Glimmerglass]

So he cost the tracks millions and upended the sport in California based on what was probably a casual conversation with Bob Baffert at Clocker's Corner.

In a nutshell - yes. Insane.

Reminds me of the epic Iridium project for Motorola. By all accounts a colossal failure in economic terms for the company it was all started because the wife of a Motorola executive became frustrated by being unable to call the U.S. on her cellular phone from a Caribbean island in the mid 1980's.

Her demand should've been ignored but instead the company just had to create a communications satellite to cover the globe. Total cost to Motorola was pegged at least $5 billion on the lowest estimate in losses and forever wounded the company.

(The Iridium network was sold for a mere $25 million to investor Dan Colussy (http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39440/118/) in bankruptcy. In 2008 it took in sales of at least $280 million ... go figure)

[Blinkers On]

I LOVE Shapiro!!!!!
How to sink the Titanic, aka California Racing, without an iceberg. His second thoughts on the mandate to synthetics is almost on the same level as an apology from the guy who didn't see the big iceberg till it was way too late.

[Glimmerglass]

Bill Christine - Horse Race Insider - 7-24-09 "About $40 Million Later. . ." (http://www.horseraceinsider.com/blog.php/lines-in-the-sand/07242009-about-40-million-later/)

In California and elsewhere, Shapiro will be known as the poster boy for the synthetic-track era out West, no matter what he says. During the interview, he tried to make a case that all segments of the industry were behind the change, but I remember it otherwise. There were suggestions from some trainers that half the money could have been spent at Del Mar in a major renovation of the dirt track.

He probably doesn't need to be reminded, but Shapiro shouldn't forget that one member of his own board at the time, Jerry Moss, didn't follow the other commission sheep to approval. Moss, whose horses have included Giacomo, Tiago and Zenyatta, was the most prescient man in the room. "I'll just vote 'present,'" he said. "I think these new tracks need much more study before we do all this."

The kicker ....

"If most of the industry wants to go back to dirt, they should go back to dirt," Shapiro said before [Wednesday's] opening day.

[Glimmerglass]

BloodHorse 7-24-09 "Shapiro Pleads Not Guilty in Vandalism Case" (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/51820/shapiro-pleads-not-guilty-in-vandalism-case?source=rss)

[Glimmerglass]

BloodHorse 8-19-09 "Shapiro Pleads 'No Contest' in Vandalism Case" (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/52190/shapiro-pleads-no-contest-in-vandalism-case?source=rss)

The 56-year-old Shapiro was sentenced to three years of informal probation and ordered to pay restitution of $6,800 to horse owner Jerry Jamgotchian to cover the damage to the victim's 2008 black Jaguar sedan. One side of Jamgotchian's car was heavily scratched by a key or blunt instrument as it sat unattended in the Hollywood Park lot during a CHRB meeting at the nearby Hollywood Park Casino April 24.

Shapiro also agreed to pay a $100 fine, with additional penalties and assessments, in lieu of working three days of community service. He was scheduled to appear at the Inglewood courthouse for setting of a preliminary hearing into the case after pleading not guilty to felony vandalism July 24. Instead, he opted to plead to the lesser charge offered by the county district attorney's office before court commissioner John R. Johnson.

A "no contest" plea cannot be used against Shapiro in a civil complaint or other legal proceeding, the attorney noted. Jamgotchian filed a civil complaint July 13 against Shapiro over the incident that is pending in Los Angeles Superior Court.

[Glimmerglass]

DRF: Jamgotchian unhappy with punishment. (http://drf.com/news/article/106530.html)

According to transcripts, Jamgotchian said in court that he thought Shapiro should have to attend anger managment classes and perform community service, and that he write the court and the California racing industry a letter of apology.

"My opinion was that Shapiro got off very easy," Jamgotchian said on Wednesday. "He should have gotten community service time and he should have got anger management classes, just like any tagger that has destroyed private property.

"He showed no remorse. He hasn't apologized to the horse racing industry for the embarrassment he has caused to California racing."

The judge for the hearing, John R. Johnson, denied Jamgotchian's requests for stiffer punishment, but had the two men shake hands in front of him.

"Why don't you bury the hatchet and act civilized and mature about this whole thing, both of you," said Johnson, according to the transcripts.